Santhamma vs Bindu and Others

K.G. Balakrishnan, J.—Petitioner seeks to condone the delay in filing appeal against the judgment passed by the Family Court in O.S. No. 87/95, dated 26th February 1996. In the supporting affidavit it is stated by the Petitioner that he thought that the appeal need be filed within a period of 90 days but later he realised that it should be filed within a period of 30 days of the judgment and this being a mistake on the part of the counsel the delay may be condoned.

A certified copy of the judgment given to the Petitioner is produced before us and it does not contain the endorsement as envisaged under Rule 10 of the Family Courts (Procedure) Rules, 1989. Rule 10 says that a copy of every judgment/Order against which an appeal lies u/s 19 of the Act, shall be given free of cost to the parties and Sub-clause (ii) of Rule 10 says that "at the top of the first page of the judgment or Order there shall be the following endorsement: An appeal can be preferred to the High Court of Kerala within a period of 30 days from the date of the judgment/Order".

The above rule was not noticed by the Family Court and in the copy of judgment issued to the Appellant there was no such endorsement. This led to the filing of the appeal belatedly. Hereafter the Family Court shall give an endorsement at the top of the first page of the judgment as envisaged under Rule 10 of the Family Courts (Procedure) Rules, 1989. For the above reason we condone delay in filing the appeal.